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Here Dr. Doty speaks at the Mind and Its Potential 2012 conference. Not long ago, science had the notion that the capacity of the brain was fixed. We had what we were born with and past early adulthood, it was all downhill. However, the science of neuroplasticity has completely changed all that. Your brain is like a muscle – your mind can be trained to improve intelligence, learn new skills, be kinder, be happier and be more content. For 10 years now, Mind & Its Potential has been at the forefront of this amazing new frontier of science.

In this talk, Prof James Doty will take us through the influence of loving-kindness on the body and mind, how it can benefit not only others around us, but also the individual in powerful ways. Together with the Founder and Director of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) at Stanford University, let us discover how loving-kindness can actually change our physical health and well-being. What can we do today and every day to cultivate loving-kindness, compassion, and happiness in our lives?

Most of us spend the majority of our time at work where it can be a source of purpose and inspiration. Yet, for many work can be the place at which they are the most stressed and least happy. In fact, work is often considered a ruthless cut-throat environment with little if any compassion.

In my previous blog regarding stress in the workplace, I discussed the deleterious effects of stress on job performance and health. But how can this be done? Clearly, the solution is bringing into balance the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. By increasing the tone of the parasympathetic nervous system and decreasing the tone of the sympathetic nervous system, we are brought into true balance. This is done through compassion.

In this dialogue CCARE’s founder and director, Dr. James Doty, asks scientist and Buddhist monk, Matthieu Ricard, about his life’s work and what role compassion may have played. This event is an hour-long dialogue followed by questions from the audience.

Dr. James Doty, speaks on the power of compassion and importance of the work of CCARE. CCARE investigates methods for cultivating compassion and promoting altruism within individuals and society through rigorous research, scientific collaborations, and academic conferences. In addition, CCARE provides a compassion cultivation program and teacher training as well as educational public events and programs.

One day several months ago, I was leaving a lawyer's office where I was engaged in a matter where a donation I have made to a non-profit was misappropriated for activities unrelated to my intent. I was quite chagrined and frankly disappointed. I had trusted the individuals who had solicited the donation and it had obviously been misplaced. In this mood, I left the lawyer's office. I was not in the best part of town but was hungry so headed to an outdoor café for lunch.

It is indeed a paradox that so many from what are considered developing countries wish to come to the West, where we have an epidemic ofdepression, isolation, and loneliness, while the U.S. alone consumes 25 percent of the world's resources.

Why, in a country that consumes 25% of the world's resources (the U.S.), is there an epidemic of loneliness, depression, and anxiety? Why do so many in the West who have all of their basic needs met still feel impoverished? While some politicians might answer, "It's the economy, stupid," Based on scientific evidence, a better answer is, "It's the lack compassion, stupid."